Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders最新文献

{"title":"Comparison of Eating Behaviours, Anthropometric Measures, and Malnutrition Risk in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Disabilities.","authors":"Özge Esgin, Ceren Ari-Arat, Gulsum Yilmaz, Aysun Hamitoglu","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07560-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07560-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This study examined differences in eating behaviours, anthropometric indicators, and malnutrition risk among children aged 5-16 years with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD), including Down syndrome, developmental language disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study was carried out using a cross-sectional design and included 220 children attending special education and rehabilitation centres: 97 autistic children (girls: 26, boys: 71) and 123 children with other developmental disabilities (DD; girls: 44, boys: 79). The DD group comprised children with Down syndrome (n = 52, 42.3%), developmental language disorder (n = 58, 47.2%), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 13, 10.6%).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Autistic children differed from children with other developmental disabilities in both growth patterns and eating behaviour profiles. Height-for-age z-scores were higher in children with ASD than in those with Down syndrome (DS) and developmental language disorder (DLD) (p=.01). Autistic children showed higher Food Fussiness scores than children with DS (p<.05). Associations between eating behaviours and BMI-for-age varied according to diagnostic group (all interaction p<.05). In other developmental disability groups, eating behaviours also varied according to BMI-for-age categories and malnutrition risk (p<.05). Among autistic children, malnutrition risk was associated with higher Food Responsiveness and Slowness in Eating scores (p<.05).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study showed that eating behaviours, anthropometric measurements, and malnutrition risk vary among children with ASD and diagnostically distinct developmental disability subgroups, underscoring the importance of individualised, diagnosis-informed nutritional assessment and monitoring.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149182067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing Attention and Executive Function in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a 12-Week Multimodal Art Intervention.","authors":"Qi-Fan Wu, Jia-Qi Du","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07569-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07569-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To evaluate the effects of multimodal art interventions on attention and executive function in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), thereby adding more evidence-based support to the field of art intervention research.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Forty-two children with ASD were recruited from a local autism association and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 21) and a control group (n = 21). The experimental group received a 12-week multimodal art intervention consisting of three 90-min sessions per week. The control group continued routine physical activities and cognitive therapy without pharmacotherapy or art-related training during the study. Attention and executive function were assessed before and after the intervention.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Between-group comparisons of pre-to-post change favored the experimental group for all eight attention and executive-function outcomes (FDR p ≤ 0.01). Within-group analyses showed improved attention and executive-function performance in the experimental group (all p ≤ 0.01). No significant changes were observed in the control group except for poorer performance on the More-Odd Shifting Task (p < 0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Multimodal art intervention shows potential for improving attention and executive function in ASD children during early developmental stages. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, and future research is needed to explore its efficacy across mild, moderate, and severe ASD severity levels.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149182042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scalp Topography of Event-Related Potentials Reveals Differences in Audiovisual Speech Processing in Autistic and Non-Autistic Children.","authors":"Kacie Dunham-Carr, Jacob I Feldman, David M Simon, Mark T Wallace, Micah M Murray, Tiffany G Woynaroski","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07552-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07552-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>In our prior work, conventional event-related potential (ERP) responses to audiovisual versus auditory-only speech were found to explain variance in language abilities in autistic and non-autistic children but failed to differentiate autistic children from non-autistic children. This study extends previous ERP analyses of responses to audiovisual versus auditory-only speech in autistic and non-autistic school-aged children to investigate group and condition differences in the strength and topography of the ERP based on data-driven, reference-independent metrics that overcome limitations of conventional ERP analyses.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Extant ERP data from 50 5-12-year-old children (25 per group, matched at the group level on age and sex assigned at birth) recorded during a passive task of listening and watching videos of auditory-only and audiovisual speech syllables were analyzed for differences in ERP strength and topography, quantified via global field power (GFP) and global map dissimilarity (GMD), respectively.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>GFP was significantly reduced for audiovisual compared to auditory-only speech at 245-275 ms post-stimulus. Groups differed in GMD of the ERPs reflecting the difference in response to audiovisual versus auditory-only speech at 139-170 ms post-stimulus, wherein microstates suggested predominantly differential occipital electrode responses.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The benefits of audiovisual integration manifest as a facilitation effect (reduced signal strength of the ERP response to audiovisual versus auditory-only speech) across autistic and non-autistic children. Autistic children also display different patterns of activation underlying ERPs in response to audiovisual versus auditory-only speech relative to non-autistic children. Topographic ERP analyses show promise for advancing our understanding of audiovisual speech processing in autism.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149165854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Challenges in Accommodating Talker Variability in Lexical Tone Perception Among Autistic Adults: Implications for Talker Adaptation.","authors":"Zixuan Wu, Carol K S To","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07531-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07531-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Successful speech perception requires listeners to accommodate acoustic variability arising both across talkers and within a single talker. This challenge is especially pronounced in tone languages, where fundamental frequency (F0) simultaneously encodes lexical meaning and talker identity. The present study investigated how between-talker and within-talker variability affects lexical tone perception in Cantonese-speaking adults with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Twenty-five adults with ASD and 25 neurotypical (NT) controls completed a speeded word identification task involving minimal word pairs differentiated by level tones. Between-talker variability was manipulated by presenting words produced by either a single talker or multiple talkers, and within-talker variability was manipulated by using either a single exemplar or multiple exemplars from each talker. Performance was assessed using identification accuracy, response time (RT), and a composite efficiency measure.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Both groups demonstrated reliable processing costs associated with between-talker variability, reflected in lower accuracy, longer RTs, and reduced efficiency, with no group difference in the magnitude of this effect. In contrast, only the ASD group exhibited reduced efficiency under within-talker variability. Furthermore, within-talker and between-talker processing costs were not significantly correlated in either group.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings suggest that autistic adults may experience greater difficulty accommodating subtle within-talker acoustic variability during lexical tone perception, consistent with a more detail-focused processing style. Such difficulty may have implications for everyday speech understanding in socially diverse listening environments while highlighting the importance of distinguishing between-talker normalization from within-talker stabilization in models of speech perception.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149165381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diagnostic Agreement of a Structured Telehealth Adult Autism Assessment.","authors":"Eileen Crehan, Kelly Whaling, Hannah Jones, Jacqueline Shinall, Rachel Loftin","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07571-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07571-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This preregistered retrospective study evaluated diagnostic agreement under shared-information conditions for a structured, neurodiversity-affirming telehealth adult autism assessment protocol mapped to DSM-5-TR criteria.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The sample included 100 adults who primarily communicated through spoken language and was intentionally stratified to include at least 50% Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC; 51% achieved). Evaluations generally included two 90-min structured interviews across ten DSM-5-TR-mapped domains, criterion-level decision rules, behavioral observation, questionnaires, and collateral information when available. A blinded expert reviewed de-identified assessment materials and independently classified cases as ASD or non-ASD.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Overall agreement was 86.0% (95% CI [77.9%, 91.5%]), with Cohen's κ = 0.684 (95% CI [0.531, 0.836]). The point estimate exceeded the preregistered 0.66 benchmark, although the confidence interval included lower values. ASD classification rates were 68% for original clinicians and 66% for expert review. Positive and negative percent agreement were 90.9% and 76.5%, respectively. Exploratory subgroup analyses suggested lower agreement among BIPOC participants, although estimates were imprecise.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Findings provide preliminary evidence that a structured, neurodiversity-affirming telehealth framework can yield concordant ASD/non-ASD classifications under shared-information conditions. Neurodiversity-affirming practice can coexist with structured, criterion-based diagnostic decision-making: affirming clients' experiences and reducing deficit-based assumptions does not require presuming an autism diagnosis. Because reviewers relied on substantially overlapping information, findings do not establish diagnostic accuracy or criterion validity. Independent prospective validation using separate evaluations and multiple blinded reviewers is needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149165296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing Peer-Directed Social Communication in Autistic Children Using Video Visual Scene Displays.","authors":"Avinash Mishra, Jasmine Wang, Lindsay Scott","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07564-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10803-026-07564-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Minimally speaking autistic children often experience significant challenges engaging in reciprocal social communication with peers. Although augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions using video-based visual scene displays (VSDs) have shown promise for supporting contextualized communication, limited research has examined their effects within reciprocal, peer-directed play contexts. This study evaluated the effects of a video-based VSD AAC intervention on peer-directed symbolic communication.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A single-case, multiple-probe design across dyads was used to examine intervention effects. Fifteen autistic children and 15 age-matched peers with neurotypical development participated in peer play sessions organized into three cohorts, with five dyads per cohort, to facilitate staggered intervention introduction. Following baseline probes using static printed VSDs, autistic children received a video-based VSD AAC intervention incorporating dynamic visual supports and speech-generating communication. The primary dependent variable was the frequency of peer-directed symbolic communication turns.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Across all cohorts, intervention implementation was associated with immediate increases in peer-directed symbolic communication. Visual analysis demonstrated consistent changes in level and immediacy of effect with minimal overlap between baseline and intervention phases. Tau-U analyses indicated large intervention effects across dyads, and maintenance probes suggested that gains were sustained following intervention completion.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Findings provide evidence that video-based VSD AAC interventions may support peer-directed symbolic communication among minimally speaking autistic children. Embedding AAC within reciprocal, play-based interactions may enhance opportunities for social participation and meaningful communication with peers.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149167324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of Incorporating Horses into Occupational Therapy on Adrenocortical and Sympathetic Nervous System Reactivity and Regulation in Autistic Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial.","authors":"Ellen M Rankins, Stephen Aichele, Douglas A Granger, Susan Hepburn, Robin Gabriels, Arlene A Schmid, B Caitlin Peters","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07540-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07540-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The study prospectively investigated adrenocortical and autonomic nervous system reactivity and regulation as autistic children participated in a randomized controlled trial of occupational therapy in an equine environment (OT-Equine).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Autistic children (n = 72, ages 6-11 yrs) were randomly assigned for 10 weeks to OT-Equine or clinic-based occupational therapy (OT-Clinic). Saliva samples (later assayed for cortisol and alpha-amylase, [sAA]) were collected before (pre-session), during (within-session), immediately after (post-session), and 20-minutes after (post-session + 20) each 1-hour weekly session. Data were analyzed with a generalized linear mixed-effects model.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Across the 10 sessions, pre-session sAA significantly increased (exp(b) = 1.02 per week, p < 0.05). Within sessions, sAA increased (exp(b) = 1.22; p < 0.01) during therapy and recovered post-session + 20. Group differences in sAA changes were non-significant. By contrast, pre-session cortisol concentrations were stable across the 10-weeks (exp(b) = 1.01; p > 0.05). Within session, however, cortisol concentrations decreased from pre- to post- and post-session + 20, with greater reductions among OT-Equine participants (exp(b) = 0.77; p < 0.01). Changes in cortisol were associated with improved treatment outcomes.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The pattern of reactivity and recovery in sAA suggests that children experienced autonomic/sympathetic arousal in response to therapy sessions, perhaps associated with excitement and positive affect. Moreover, stable pre-session cortisol concentrations across sessions for both groups, and declining cortisol concentrations within sessions for the OT-Equine group, suggests OT-Equine participants also held subjective experiences characterized by familiarity and low levels of distress. Taken together, findings suggest the integration of horses into occupational therapy for autistic children creates an exciting positive therapeutic environment, associated with improved treatment outcomes. The study was registered as a clinical trial at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05846932, registered April 26, 2023).</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149169520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cerebellar Crus I and Crus II Structure and Excitation/Inhibition Balance in Autism Spectrum Disorder.","authors":"John P Hegarty, Hamidreza Komaki, Meng Gu, Kurtis Young, Nneoma Ogbonnaya, Daniel M Spielman, Antonio Y Hardan","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07529-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07529-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Cerebro-cerebellar network dynamics are highly implicated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), particularly the posterolateral cerebellar hemispheres. Cellular alterations in the cerebellum are also consistently reported in post-mortem research, suggesting potential impacts on the balance between excitatory glutamatergic (Glu) and inhibitory GABAergic signaling (E/I). Emerging evidence further indicates that the cerebellum supports multiple cognitive and behavioral domains associated with the diagnostic criteria for ASD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The current study collected structural T1-weighted MRI and novel ¹H MR spectroscopy data (MEGA-SPECIAL) to examine neurometabolites of Glu and GABA from the cerebellar hemispheres of autistic (n=13) and neurotypical children (n =16). We also explored preliminary comparisons with autistic adolescents (n=7) and assessed relationships for social communication, restricted and repetitive behaviors, and sensory processing differences.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Crus I and II were significantly thinner in autistic children compared to neurotypical children. While there were no significant group differences in the subset of participants with quality neurometabolite measurements, p > 0.05, there were salient relationships between E/I, cerebellar structure, and core ASD domains. Thinner Crus I grey matter and smaller Crus II volume were correlated with higher E/I, especially for Glu in left Crus I and right Crus II. Morphometric properties and E/I were also associated with self-injurious and other restricted and repetitive behaviors.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our preliminary findings are limited by the small sample size but suggest a potential relationship between cerebellar structure, the balance of excitation-inhibition in cerebro-cerebellar networks, and the core domains of autism spectrum disorder.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149136934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Infant Attention to Eyes Versus Mouth Varies With Mouth Movement Speed, Family History of Autism and Language Development.","authors":"Mary Agyapong, Luke Mason, Jannath Begum Ali, Mark H Johnson, Tony Charman, Emily J H Jones","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07516-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07516-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Patterns of visual attention to faces are mixed in infants with a family history of autism relative to controls. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often co-occurs with autism and could represent one source of variance in findings. Heterogeneity in language skills may represent another source of variance. We investigated longitudinal patterns of attention to eyes and mouths in infants with and without an elevated familial likelihood (EL) of autism and/or ADHD, and examined associations with language development.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The sample included 160 infants (EL-autism = 79, EL-ADHD = 31, EL-autism+ADHD = 21, Typical Likelihood (TL) of autism and/or ADHD = 29). We measured eye-to-mouth looking ratios of 5, 10 and 14 month olds who viewed pairs of faces with mouths moving at low (1 Hz), medium (6 Hz) and high (10 Hz/15 Hz) temporal frequency. Language skills were measured throughout infancy and at 36 months.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Eye looking (relative to mouth) decreased as a function of age and was reduced for speech-like frequencies (6 Hz) compared to slower frequencies. Infants with EL-autism looked more to the eyes than TL infants, but this effect was attenuated in the presence of familial ADHD. Controlling for 14 months word acquisition, higher receptive language at 36 months was associated with greater eye looking.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our findings confirm age-related changes in eye-to-mouth looking across development and suggest that variability in familial ADHD and heterogeneity in language skills influence attentional differences in infants with a family history of autism. Future family history studies should investigate this heterogeneity using neurophysiological methods.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149127578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Functional Application of Episodic Foresight in Autistic Children.","authors":"Serene Jiu Swan Chua, Gill Terrett, Sarah P Coundouris, Peter G Rendell, Thomas Suddendorf, Julie D Henry","doi":"10.1007/s10803-026-07561-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-026-07561-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Challenges in daily living skills are well documented in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), even for those with preserved intellectual function. Since episodic foresight is critical to act with the future in mind, this study provides the first test of whether autistic children exhibit differences on a behavioral test of this capacity, and if so, whether these variations might be related to broader cognitive abilities involving executive control and/or retrospective memory.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Forty autistic children with no intellectual impairment (IQ > 80) aged 8-12 years and 55-age and IQmatched non-autistic controls completed a measure that met strict criteria for demonstrating episodic foresight, the child variant of Virtual-Week Episodic Foresight. This measure requires children to identify a problem, self-generate a resolution, and execute the appropriate future-directed intention. They also completed standardized tests of executive control (Trail Making Test and Color-Word Interference Test) and retrospective memory (delayed recall).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The two groups did not differ in their capacity to take appropriate steps in the present in anticipation of potential future problems. However, autistic children were poorer than non-autistic controls at subsequently implementing actions at specific future points that allowed successful problem resolution. These difficulties could not be attributed to broader problems with retrospective memory or executive functioning.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study provides behavioral evidence that autistic children experience specific challenges with the functional application of episodic foresight. These findings are discussed in relation to their implications for important daily living skills.</p>","PeriodicalId":15148,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149127616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}